I also got the teaser email earlier, but just got around to checking my email, and noticed it. I only have one of Tempesta's Pauline characters that I've used on occasion, but I haven't liked Paul enough to even try him out, so maybe I'll change my mind when I see what version 2 looks like.

I think it's a legit message to existing Poser users (who ARE worried that Poser is dying/dead). People need to know that the folks in charge aren't sticking their head into the sand and whispering to themselves "Everything is just fine, all is well."

Recognizing that ver1 of Pauline and Paul was a disaster and offering us what we should've gotten for P11 is a great start...

Al Gore once said something to the effect, "I'm not humorless... Hmmm..., well, I guess if you have to say you're not humorless, you probably are." When a company gets to the point that they have to say they're not dead, they probably are. Imagine someone who is thinking about getting into 3d art for the first time and is trying to decide between DAZ and Poser, and they see this "Poser is not dead" campaign. What kind of confidence will they have that Poser will actually survive? It's like someone saying, "Hey, I know we're behind by three touchdowns and it's the fourth quarter, but we're not out of it yet." To me it's an admission that they are getting their asses kicked by the competition.

Then to top it off, they try to use their figures as the means of their resurgence. I've used Poser since P8 and I have NEVER used any of the Poser figures because they are god-awful ugly. My observation, which may be badly skewed, is that the vast majority of Poser users use DAZ models almost exclusively. I was unaware that there was a problem with Paul and Pauline. Heck, I was almost unaware that there even was a Paul and Pauline, so trying to sell me on something that I never use and don't care about is not a good marketing strategy.

Al Gore once said something to the effect, "I'm not humorless... Hmmm..., well, I guess if you have to say you're not humorless, you probably are." When a company gets to the point that they have to say they're not dead, they probably are. Imagine someone who is thinking about getting into 3d art for the first time and is trying to decide between DAZ and Poser, and they see this "Poser is not dead" campaign. What kind of confidence will they have that Poser will actually survive? It's like someone saying, "Hey, I know we're behind by three touchdowns and it's the fourth quarter, but we're not out of it yet." To me it's an admission that they are getting their asses kicked by the competition.

Then to top it off, they try to use their figures as the means of their resurgence. I've used Poser since P8 and I have NEVER used any of the Poser figures because they are god-awful ugly. My observation, which may be badly skewed, is that the vast majority of Poser users use DAZ models almost exclusively. I was unaware that there was a problem with Paul and Pauline. Heck, I was almost unaware that there even was a Paul and Pauline, so trying to sell me on something that I never use and don't care about is not a good marketing strategy.

I've used Poser since Poser 5.

Different strokes I guess - I like the SM figures. Nothing would make me happier than getting a fully updated G2 series of figures (Sydney, Jessi, Olivia, Miki 2, James, Kelvin, Koji, and Simon).

I work in Poser since 2002 and after getting this mail I thought it is a Positive thing.
this tells me that Smith Micro is still on the Ball and doing future efforts to Improve
Poser even more.
Personally I do not think that Poser is dying in any way as I do my self many High end
Poser Products for end users to use in their Artworks.
In the past 2 years I released over 500 Products and as it seems allot of People still
show interest in using Poser.
I Started off with True Space at the time and today I have to say that Poser was the best
choice to get into 3D, leading to other high end Programs and helping to learn how to
Create and use 3D. Even that I actually never used Pauline and Paul since I create
my own Figures , I think it is a Part of Poser and for a Beginner with interest in 3d a good
Start to get into Creative Works just like the ones who started with the Dolls provided in Poser4
that today create there own great things.

First people complain that poser is dying and daz is taking over. They also complain that Smith Mirco never responds to us. Now Smith Mirco does respond and tells us poser is doing fine and you complain again. I wasn't aware complaining was such a widespread hobby. (I know I need to get out more.) The demise of poser has been predicted more times than the end of the earth. Chances are even if Smith Micro can't keep it going, they'll sell it to someone else. For as many hands as Poser has passed through, that seems clear. But I don't know that anyone else has held onto it this long.

As for P&P v2, I can't say much. I didn't get the newsletter to read anything about them. Don't know if the changes are cosmetic or functional, or both. I think both have some potential to be good figures. Look at Pauline advanced. She's pretty good.

Internet rumors are like any other and you have to ask yourself 'qui bono'. And that is DAZ and DAZ ultra supporters.

DAZ doesn't really have to prove anything in the hobby market. During the first few versions, if Poser had died off, DAZ would have been in big trouble, because DS was pretty bad at just about everything. But since then, DAZ has been able to turn from compatibility to incompatibility as a strategy to try to keep users in one camp or the other, and to try to get anyone invested in DAZ content to just stick with DAZ. Now Poser occupies some market segments that DAZ wants to enter, because they've likely been plateauing a bit in their (now) historically strong hobbyist market. They are trying to figure out how to make money off of game dev and 3d printing, but those are sort of different types of markets.

This is about the business aspect of Poser, not the software itself. For Poser to be a viable product, i.e., for it to stay alive, SM must do two things: (1) bring in new users, and (2) get existing users to upgrade to new releases. (I'm sure they have an income stream from Poser related products at Content Paradise, but this is about Poser per se.)

Software isn't like most products. Complex apps like Poser require a significant investment - not just in the purchase price but in the time and effort to get up to speed. My investment in the purchase price of Poser is a pittance compared to the investment of my time. I am not going to invest a significant amount of my time in any app that I think might not be viable. In fact part of my reason for choosing Poser over DAZ was based on the viability issue. So, again, imagine someone new to 3D and vacillating between Poser and DAZ, and they see the "we're not dead yet" campaign. They haven't immersed themselves in the product like we have, so the main thing they take away from this campaign is that Poser is struggling or, at the very least, that there is a perception that Poser is struggling, and sometimes perception is the catalyst for reality. This is not the way to lure new users to your product.

For me personally, as a veteran Poser user, this campaign will probably do it for me and Poser. I've considered moving to DAZ for years, and the main reason I haven't was inertia - I've already made the time investment, I'm familiar with it, I have my little utilities I use, I'm lazy, etc. Of course, inertia is a pretty powerful force, so...

@ElZagna This campaign was mailed out to existing users of Poser though, it's less about luring new users and more about making sure that the existing userbase feel that the owners of Poser know that the product is still alive and being supported with new features and updates.

Never mind about gaining new users, once your existing customers feel abandoned and unsupported, then the product truly is dead. It's the worry of Poser users all heading over to Daz that I'm sure Smith-Micro is fearful of (given that Daz Studio is free and comes with some high-end figures for free too, figures that Poser hasn't been able to match... at least not the figures that are bundled with it).

@ElZagna This campaign was mailed out to existing users of Poser though, it's less about luring new users and more about making sure that the existing userbase feel that the owners of Poser know that the product is still alive and being supported with new features and updates.

Never mind about gaining new users, once your existing customers feel abandoned and unsupported, then the product truly is dead. It's the worry of Poser users all heading over to Daz that I'm sure Smith-Micro is fearful of (given that Daz Studio is free and comes with some high-end figures for free too, figures that Poser hasn't been able to match... at least not the figures that are bundled with it).

Well said! It's the CURRENT userbase that's important, and if SM can't keep that CURRENT userbase happy, then there's a problem, so letting the CURRENT userbase know all is well, and progressing, is the best way to keep Poser alive and well. New users will come along, but as long as the CURRENT userbase stays intact, we're in good shape.

It's not directed at anyone in particular. Just stating that some people seem to never be happy no matter what they do. And I agree, as a way to draw in new buyers, saying it's not dead yet, doesn't seem to be bright. But as TonsGX said, it wasn't directed at potential new users, but existing ones, the ones who are concerned. It's not stated on the website and from what I can find, they don't have access to the newsletter there either. You don't always market the same to your existing customers as you would new ones. This is one of those times.